It started here about last Wed. and the colors up and down hwy 61 are fantastic. I do not mind the miles I drive this time of year, as every corner is another blessing in beauty. It should last at least 10-14 days getting even more glorious.

Our peak is over already and most of the leaves are off of the trees. We have acres of sugar maple trees, a few red oaks among a variety of other trees. The sugar maples are the ones that are stunning in the fall, with the yellow, orange and bright red, but don't think they got as bright this year as normal. I suppose the lack of water this summer was hard on them. The red oak we have in our front yard is beautiful tho, and usually those leaves stay on most of the winter.... with a blanket of pure white snow and some frost, stunning.

My husband is color blind so he doesn't see the bright colors, last year about this time we went to Taylor Falls, MN and the veiw across the St. Croix river was incredable. I told him that if he could see those colors for only 10 minutes in his life THIS 10 minutes would be the time.

We've got swamp maple and tulip trees that are very nice coloring out - if the weather is right. If not, they just kind of dump the leaves w/o much fanfare.

Wish we could afford a foliage trip. I remember when DH & I were first married, and visiting relatives cross-country prior to heading to the Philippines with the AF. We stopped at a rest area just inside Pennsylvania on the top of a tall hill. It was peak color, and you could see rounded hills covered in glorious color, broken by the green fields (young winter wheat, buckwheat???), standing field corn, recently plowed fields, cows, sheep, and the occasional farmstead, just about as far as the eye could see. It looked like a postcard or painting, it was so pretty.

Sometimes I really do miss living up north.

~ True grits, more grits, fish grits and collards. Life is good, where grits are swollar'd.